oggetto Italian · revision 38984

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1250|origins=la iaciō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /odˈd͡ʒɛt.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''oggetto''' ''m'' (plural oggetti)^(Wiktionary)

+ Older forms are ''obgetto'' (Boccaccio) and ''ogetto''.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|11, 845) The learned doublet ''obietto'' or ''obbietto'' survives as a literary word.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-med|obiectum|t=what strikes the senses]], a word of scholastic philosophy, and the form that prevailed over its doublet [[obietto]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary) The Medieval Latin noun is the neuter of [[la|obiectus]], the past participle of [[m|la|obiciō|t=to throw against; to put in front]], from [[m|la|ob-|t=against, before]] and [[m|la|iaciō|t=to throw]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Cicero used the participle in the sense “an accusation thrown against someone”, and only later did it take the technical meaning “what is set opposite”, matching [[grc|ἀντικείμενον|tr=antikeímenon]].^(DELI 1999) The same word gave [[fr|objet]] and [[es|objeto]], and it spread through the languages of Europe.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ The ⟨gg⟩ of ⟨oggetto⟩ is a palatal development of the Latin cluster /bj/ with a popular flavour, while ⟨obietto⟩ keeps the Latin spelling.^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999) De Vaan traces the Latin verb for “throw” to the root [[ine-pro|*(H)ieh₁-|t=to throw, let go]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The oldest sense DELI records, from an anonymous text before 1250, is “a person or thing at which a feeling or an activity is aimed”.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Dante used the doublet ''obietto'' in the ''Convivio'' (1304–1308), and Boccaccio wrote ''obgetto'' for “anything that can be perceived by the senses” in the ''Decameron'' (1348–1353).^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word came into Italian through philosophy: in the 15th and 16th centuries it named whatever the knowing subject understands as other than itself, and whatever exists independently of being known.^(DELI 1999) By the 16th century it also meant the end towards which an activity tends (Ariosto, 1532) and the subject matter of a discussion.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ In the 19th century ''oggetto'' took on the commercial sense “article” (1812) and the legal sense of a good or thing in law;^(DELI 1999) Tommaseo and Bellini objected in 1869 that this use came from French and was not found in good writers or in popular speech.^(DELI 1999) Grammar named the ''complemento oggetto'', the direct object, by 1937.^(DELI 1999) Today the most common sense is a concrete, usually man-made thing, and the word is used after a noun to mean a person treated as a thing, as in ''donna oggetto''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1250 – An anonymous text uses the word for the person or thing a feeling is aimed at.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1304–1308 – Dante uses the learned form ''obietto''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1348–1353 – Boccaccio writes ''obgetto'' for anything perceived by the senses.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1484 – Luigi Pulci uses the form ''oggetto''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1488 – Bernardo Pulci uses it in the philosophical sense.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1532 – Ariosto uses it for the goal of an activity.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1812 – The commercial sense “article” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1869 – Tommaseo and Bellini criticise the legal sense as French.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1937 – ''Complemento oggetto'' is recorded in grammar.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(philosophy)'' Whatever the [[m|en|subject]] perceives or thinks of as distinct from itself.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A concrete thing that can be perceived by the senses, especially a man-made [[m|en|object]] of definite shape: ''Sul tavolo c'erano oggetti di vetro e di legno.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The person or thing towards which a feeling, attention or action is directed: ''È diventato l'oggetto delle loro critiche.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # An aim or [[m|en|purpose]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # The subject matter or content of a talk, letter or study.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(law)'' A good or service that is the object of a right or obligation.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(grammar)'' The direct ''object'' of a verb, the ''complemento oggetto''.^(DELI 1999)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # After a noun, invariable: a person treated merely as a thing, especially as a sexual object: ''uomo oggetto''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[oggettivo]]

+ * [[oggettività]]

+ * [[oggettivare]]

+ * [[oggettivazione]]

+ * [[oggettivismo]]

+ * [[oggettistica]]

+ * [[oggettuale]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[obietto]]

+ * [[obiettivo]]

+ * [[obiettare]]

+ * [[la|obiectum]]

+ * [[fr|objet]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''In oggetto'' is bureaucratic for “in question”, and in letters ''Oggetto:'' introduces the subject line.^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020) ''Ufficio oggetti smarriti'' is a lost-property office.^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}